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Your Opinions on Black Friday are Wrong

Thanksgiving is just a few days away, and for the past month, or so, I’ve been seeing a ton of memes and pictures a lot like this one:

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States where people head out in droves to buy Christmas gifts, has gotten so out of control that it bleeds into Thanksgiving, one of the biggest holidays of the year. On top of that, every year, we hear about people getting hurt or sometimes even dying in shopping related instances because of… savings. Black Friday is weird to me. I don’t get it. What I do understand is that every person posting these memes is wrong. They are not part of some solution.

The idea behind this growing “Boycott Black Thursday” movement is that employees need a day off to spend with their families. First, not everyone gets a day off. As a person who has visited an emergency room in the past, on Thanksgiving, I am really thankful those folks were there and so were the plethora of other idiots with broken arms/legs from playing flag football. Also, I’m pretty thankful the police are still working in case there is a situation that calls for them. There’s quite a few people that have to work. Like that electricity you have? I’m thankful someone is watching over that and making sure everything goes smoothly while you eat turkey. I could easily continue with this, but I do have to say that members of the military do not get to go home, for the most part, for Thanksgiving and that sucks, but it is what it is.

Really, what these people want to say is “retail employees should have a day off.” They really only care about that segment of the country, completely forgetting that a lot of our infrastructure doesn’t run itself. How about all those folks that work at stadiums during those football games you love to watch? Ok, enough of that. I’d rather get down to the main point of all of this. Here’s another meme or two:

Hooray! These stores aren’t open on Thanksgiving! You should probably support them, after going to a store open on Thanksgiving. Here’s one more meme.

In one sentence, I can completely discredit this second meme. If you’re shopping on Black Friday, you’re part of the problem. Why does Black Thursday exist? Because the amount of people getting up earlier and earlier to stand in line, over-night, for “savings” on crap products, and it has grown to a point where retailers see a reason to open up earlier. It’s simple supply and demand.

So if you’re someone who is all high and mighty about people working on Thanksgiving, but still going out on Black Friday to shop, you’re wrong and a hypocrite. It’s as easy as that. Do you want to go out and shop on Black Friday? Go nuts. Have fun with it, but don’t stand around and tell stores they should give their employees a day off as you stand in line at Target, waiting for the store to open, 8 hours later.

In my earlier days of retail hell, I worked Black Friday, a lot, and yes, it sucks, but it’s the one day of the year you’re expected to work. I hate Black Friday and I don’t go out and shop because I’ve experienced the other side of it. The same goes for Boxing Day (the day after Christmas). That doesn’t make me a better person and I’m not better than the rest of you, and I’m not going to say people shouldn’t go out and shop. It doesn’t affect me. Do what you want but make sure you don’t think you’re taking some moral high-ground because you didn’t shop on Thanksgiving.

All-in-all, if you truly think people shouldn’t work on Thanksgiving, and we’re only talking retail, then don’t shop on Thanksgiving and on Black Friday. You want people to have a day off? Don’t support the silly event. Otherwise, shut up and I’ll see you all on Cyber Monday. Do you not give a shit? Then have fun standing in line and buying things.